White Sox 6, Indians 3: Nice Indians’ debut for Chris Perez: He hit the first two batters he faced, walked the bases loaded and then gave up a fielder’s choice, an RBI double, a wild pitch and run-scoring single. One of the guys he hit -- Alexei Ramirez -- took it in the head and had to leave the game. Congratulations, Mark Shapiro and Eric Wedge! After fifteen years of respectability, you have finally brought the Indians back around full-circle to “Major League” territory, complete with Rick Vaughn on the mound.
Cubs 3, Pirates 1: Rich Harden was impressive, striking out nine and giving up only one run -- while scattering nine hits -- over seven innings. Phil Rogers will likely call for the Cubs to waive him tomorrow. In other news, this may have been the perfect Craig day at the ballpark: small crowd, weekday game, not too hot, good pitching, done in 2:17. Really makes me wish I was there. I can almost taste the Yuengling.
Rays 4, Blue Jays 1: Roy Halladay came back and was good (6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 7K), but not good enough. Carl Crawford hit a two-run homer, got another hit and stole a base. Pat Burrell too. The homer I mean. If he stole a base I probably would have led with that.
Red Sox 4, Orioles 0: Jon Lester was fantastic (7 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 8K) and J.D. Drew homered, tripled, and singled, driving in two. “Baltimore citizenry welcome Boston conquerors: ‘we kept your rooms just the way you left them’.” The Red Sox are 22-9 at Camden Yards since the end of 2005 and have won eight straight there.
Giants 10, Cardinals 0: Holy crap, Tim Lincecum is good (CG, SHO, 2 H, 8K, 0 BB). Clayton Mortensen hitting Aaron Roward on the knee with a pitch in the seventh was the hardest hit the Cardinals had all night.
Marlins 4, Nationals 2: Florida vs. Washington, on a Monday night in Miami, with a rain delay. It says that paid attendance was over 10,000. What do you suppose the real attendance was. Seventeen? Thirty?
Brewers 10, Mets 6: According to the Journal-Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt, Gary Sheffield was booed heavily each time he came to bat. Sheffield was traded away from Milwaukee over seventeen years ago. Sure, he left as a very, very unpopular Brewer, having called out the team’s pitchers and allegedly tanked plays at third base on purpose. Either way, though, seventeen years is a long time to hold a grudge, isn’t it? Willie Randolph was the starting second basemen and Jim Gantner was the starting third baseman on Sheff’s last Brewer club. Rick Dempsey was on that roster. Maybe they should let it go, ya know?
Royals 4, Twins 2: Luke Hochevar has had one dawg of a start since his recall on June 6th, but the others have been aces, including this one (7 IP, 2 H. 0 ER). Like J.D. Drew in the Red Sox game, Miguel Olivo came a double short of the cycle, driving in two runs.
Angels 5, Rangers 4: The Angels are starting to pull away from Texas. This saddens me because I think I may have been the only person in the free world who picked Texas to win the west before the season started and I don’t want to see them slide out of contention. Kendry Morales and Juan Rivera did the damage for Anaheim, driving in a pair each.
Astros 3, Padres 1: Roy Oswalt’s still got it (CG, 2 H, 1 ER 8K), as he continues to own San Diego.
Athletics 7, Tigers 1: Rick Porcello was beat up by an A’s offense that doesn’t beat up many, giving up five runs on nine hits. This is one of the better passages from a game story this year: “After Porcello was chased, left-hander Fu-Te Ni struck out Giambi in his major league debut. Ni didn’t know who Giambi was, and he raised his eyebrows in surprise when told of Giambi’s achievements.”
Dodgers 4, Rockies 2: The Dodgers win it on a walkoff homer by Andre Ethier, but it sure took a while to get there. The Dodgers used eight pitchers, so Joe Torre is probably going to be sore today from all of that walking back and forth to the mound.
